Endgame (Coulrophobia), 2010 ~ Nuit Blanche
Endgame (Coulrophobia), 2010
Max Streicher - Toronto, Canada
Vinyl (Recyled Billboards)
A back alley is negative space, a liminal zone between the architectural order on either side—stage for the shady and dangerous. In Endgame (Coulrophobia)* giant inflatable clown heads are stuck between two buildings high over an alley. The heads are made of vinyl from recycled billboards. Referring to the history of collage as a tool for turning propaganda against itself, the artist has stated: “There is something satisfying in reshaping corporate ads into something whimsical, generous or even scary. Clowns on their own embody a certain tension; we expect them to be funny and yet many people experience them as sinister. The tension here is physical as the heads are held in place by their own internal air pressure. Their squeezed and distorted expressions add to a sense of urgency. It is a situation that invites any number of imaginative narratives. Perhaps they are renegade parade balloons whose joyride has gone tragically wrong. In any case, these happy-go-lucky characters are now pinned in a back alley. While still monumental, they are now vulnerable in a way that invites a kind of empathy, but possibly a guilty empathy, or schadenfreude, fear combined with the pleasing anticipation of a spectacularly destructive end.
Max Streicher is a sculptor and installation artist from Alberta, now residing in Toronto. Since 1989 he has worked extensively with inflatable technology in kinetic sculptures and installation works. He has shown widely in museums and public galleries across Canada and abroad. He was a founding member of the Nethermind collective of artists who mounted four large exhibitions in alternative spaces in Toronto between 1991 and 1995. Max Streicher is represented by galleries in Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Mumbai and New York.
maxstreicher.com/
Endgame (Coulrophobia), 2010 ~ Nuit Blanche
Endgame (Coulrophobia), 2010
Max Streicher - Toronto, Canada
Vinyl (Recyled Billboards)
A back alley is negative space, a liminal zone between the architectural order on either side—stage for the shady and dangerous. In Endgame (Coulrophobia)* giant inflatable clown heads are stuck between two buildings high over an alley. The heads are made of vinyl from recycled billboards. Referring to the history of collage as a tool for turning propaganda against itself, the artist has stated: “There is something satisfying in reshaping corporate ads into something whimsical, generous or even scary. Clowns on their own embody a certain tension; we expect them to be funny and yet many people experience them as sinister. The tension here is physical as the heads are held in place by their own internal air pressure. Their squeezed and distorted expressions add to a sense of urgency. It is a situation that invites any number of imaginative narratives. Perhaps they are renegade parade balloons whose joyride has gone tragically wrong. In any case, these happy-go-lucky characters are now pinned in a back alley. While still monumental, they are now vulnerable in a way that invites a kind of empathy, but possibly a guilty empathy, or schadenfreude, fear combined with the pleasing anticipation of a spectacularly destructive end.
Max Streicher is a sculptor and installation artist from Alberta, now residing in Toronto. Since 1989 he has worked extensively with inflatable technology in kinetic sculptures and installation works. He has shown widely in museums and public galleries across Canada and abroad. He was a founding member of the Nethermind collective of artists who mounted four large exhibitions in alternative spaces in Toronto between 1991 and 1995. Max Streicher is represented by galleries in Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Mumbai and New York.
maxstreicher.com/